Smartphone display trends stimulates handset market

New display format for phones repowers smartphone market : TrendForce, a global provider of accurate market reports and analysis on technology industries, reported that 18:9 smartphone displays will help drive shipments in stalling smartphone market. The global smartphone market is seeing slowing growth in the first half of 2017. Searching for ways to stimulate consumer demand, handset manufacturers have put considerable efforts in improving displays of their premium smartphones. Samsung Electronics has created the Infinity Display, according to them: 'A new standard for mobile devices.' LG has engineered its Full Vision display to power their latest flagship phone and Apple soon unveil its newly designed OLED display for the upcoming iPhone 8.

Smartphone display trends
WitsView, a division of TrendForce, just reported that increasing screen to body ratio and narrow bezel are two major trends in smartphone design for 2017 and are expected to drive changes in specifications of smartphone displays.

Specifically, the display’s aspect ratio is moving from the mainstream 16:9 to 18:9 (2:1), which is also known as the full screen format. The market reports concludes that around 10% of smartphones shipped worldwide in 2017 will have displays with 18:9 or higher aspect ratios.

Smartphone manufacturers want to release new mobile devices with higher aspect ratio displays in the second half of 2017, when more 18:9 panels are available and new products benefit from the year-end busy season. Whether pane suppliers are able to provide sufficient supply of 18:9 smartphone panels to their clients is still uncertain.

Global handset market
TrendForce latest research on the panel industry also indicates that most of the mass production and shipments of 18:9 smartphone panels will take place around this third to fourth quarter. As many smartphone brands are preparing to release their new models with 18:9 displays, they have started to scale back their demand for panels for 16:9 screens this second quarter.